Oxford English Dictionaries in Review – Digitising the Leader

The Oxford English Dictionary, the only English lexicon worthy of the definite article, has several iterations in the App Store for hungry stodgy customers. By hungry, I mean that the App Store’s reference niche, though small, is rabid. Many users want the best, not just the most popular new entry. Last week, we looked at the excellent American Heritage Dictionary Fourth Edition that offers a complete dictionary/thesaurus package for the handheld digital age and this week our review will turn to the OED.

With the exception of Enfour’s unabridged OED, each app in this review is a digital version of the concise OED and thus, content should be the same for each. Nonetheless, not two dictionaries in this series are created equal – each has unique features and quirks that define the application. Usability, clean GUI and interaction are all important in determining which is the best version for your money.

We will update the table below with a list of features and links for each dictionary we review. I hope it is helpful in deciding which product is best for your study and your wallet.